Linden MacIntyre has seen it all: War, bloodshed, and corruption, in his long career as a CBC journalist.

Thus, this tough-guy, Giller-Prize-winning author is not very shockable. But shocked he looked when, during an interview about his latest novel Why Men Lie, he was asked to reveal the biggest lie he ever told. He skated around that question like a hockey player trying to break through his opponent’s defence line.

Why Men Lie is the third in a trilogy of novels about some extended families rooted in Cape Breton, the original island home of the Toronto-based MacIntyre. The second in the trilogy, The Bishop’s Man, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2009. That book focussed on a priest forced to cover up sex crimes by fellow priests. Why Men Lie focuses on that priest’s sister, Effie, and the many lying men in her life.

MacIntyre discussed Why Men Lie, his own lies, and the never ending battle between the sexes in an interview before his scheduled April 26 appearance at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. Here is an edited transcript of that discussion: (more…)